Last week Manitoba's 11th case of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea was confirmed on a sow operation in southeastern Manitoba.

Dr Megan Bergman, Manitoba's Chief Veterinary Officer, says efforts are underway to identify the source of the infection, action has been taken to contain the infection and she suggests, with good surveillance and strong biosecurity practices, the risk of transmission should be quite limited.

Dr Megan Bergman-Manitoba Agriculture

The infected farm has implemented what we call biocontainment, which means that they're very cautious about any potential transmission of the virus outside the barn so they're making sure that they're implementing very good biosecurity practices both on entry but also when they're exiting the barn so that they're not bringing the virus out with them.

We've also asked that any farms in the area enhance their biosecurity practices as well as much as possible.

Biosecurity is our best friend regardless of time of year.

I think we need to continue to remember that in Manitoba we have significant contact with the United States where this virus is quite prevalent and we also have some high traffic sites that are positive for the virus so we can never let down our guard with respect to our biosecurity to prevent introduction of this virus onto our farms.

Having those sound practices in place, both with respect to what is coming on and off your farm when we're talking about people, vehicles or animals but also where your going.

If you're heading to a high traffic site, being very conscious about ensuring you've implemented really good biosecurity before you go back to your farm so that you're not bringing anything back with you.

Dr Bergman says prior to last week nine of the previously positive ten premises has achieved presumed negative status which means they had complete their cleaning and disinfection and all pigs and pig contact surfaces within the barns were negative.

She notes additional testing is conducted on lagoons and, once negative status for the lagoons is confirmed, negative reports will be completed for those sites.